Saint Fan CaM

Is he good enough? In the right mould as it were for Saints? Not entirely convinced myself, but would not be disappointed if he came here. Clearly AP has not shown an interest yet.

Getting hot with your cousin is not good TBF.

Agreed with this. Wotton and James will never be good enough to compete in CM with many teams we'll face, let alone the top 8 teams. AP and NC - its time to act and get another CAM into the mix while Hammond mends and Morgan chills.

With Hammond and Morgan out AP and NC had better get signing PDQ or we'll be dropping games left right and centre. James and Wotton are not going to win us enough games...particularly Ipswich.

Antonio or Fonte would get my MOTM. Both superb tonight. Lallana did not impress me too much - he held the ball too long on more than one occasion. Wotton - dunno - not good enough, but we win with him in the side?! Ref a complete and utter noob-head. And why did the black lino give a free-kick when Antonio was shielding the ball at the end in the corner - he got pushed around by 3 players FFS!!! Overall a good result - just hope all those yellows and Morgans red don't mess up the next few games.

Was a time given? Nothing yet @ 5.05pm. :confused:

Pretty good summary. I'll simplify it - they're royally screwed!

Get behind the grizzlers FFS! (Sorry, don't really mean that, but not seen it on here for a while and it's kinda fun).

Oh dear. That is all I have to say.

I think James will almost certainly be placed at RB again as Jaidi, Seaborne and Otsemobor are all out. We'll probably see Lambert up front on his own, with a five man midfield of Holmes, Lallana, Morgan, Wotton, Antonio. Score : 1-2 Saints.

As I have said before, I think AP has been misquoted here. He has said that Saints would not value Stock the same as Donny, but he has not said that a bid has been made. That article does not quote AP directly at all, so someone is playing games. Very strange for the OS to put such a blatantly obvious link to a player we're supposedly only tentatively linked with - recent previous 'jokes' have tended to be about Saints players I think? So just perhaps....

Wigley.

One other thing Glasgow is missing out on and something I mentioned some weeks ago. As soon as you approach the top 10 clubs in ANY division, you will start to find progress more difficult. Why? Because those clubs are there for a reason. This season finds the top 10 clubs pretty much all in good form and it will be quite a hard task to break into the pack. We certainly need to win games against teams above us to stand a chance of play-offs IMO.

You may be right - I am sure this figure was the accepted one though. Even Lowe bandied it around I think.

Sorry, but ALL I can see is press speculation. Not ONE direct quote from AP in any of those rags. And I think AP has been mis-quoted regarding Stock - he said very carefully that Saints valuation of the player would not meet Donny's. That is a million miles from confirming that a bid had been made, rejected and that we were not going back for another try. Having said that, how many times have we heard a manager state that no offers have been received, only to then be told later that the player is on his way?

Get the gist, but that's not entirely reflective. You should also add... (a) started with - 10 points, (b) show the number of games each player has been available to AP for (as above), © started with a club almost in ruin with a squad with little self-belief and no pre-season to speak of. Then perhaps the question might be fair. Incidentally, under those circumstances I would answer your question with an emphatic "YES!".

We will win both legs. You heard it here first.

Has AP actually stated that we have put an offer in though? Please find a quote if he has. I think he has said he likes the player - that Donny don't match our valuation of him. But I am not sure he has actually said anything about making a bid. So O'Driscoll might be perfectly correct in what he is saying.

Look Markus and Nicola have a 5-year plan. For that reason AP will be here for at least two years/seasons. After that he may be here for more - depends if the business is running well (i.e. if we get to the play-offs but lose in the final should he be sacked? I think not). However, I suspect he will need to be in CCC breaking even by the end of the 2010-11 season for his job to be completely safe. After that who knows? If possible I would support him for as long as possible because I think he is good fit for the club and unless things are going horribly wrong longevity in the managerial position is a good thing.

Absolutely key point made here. We rarely score from a fast break to the byline and a great cross putting the oppositions defenders under pressure. With Holmes and perhaps Antonio, we have that option...BUT you've GOT to get players into the box to capitilise - we don't have the attacking skill in midfield to do it - Schneiderlin can't seem to hit a barndoor with a banjo.

I said it at the beginning and I'll say again now because nothing has changed. It was a massive ask to get into the play-offs with the handicaps facing the team - we've had a good stab, but I still think it will ultimately be too much. Level playing field in terms of points and a good summer of development will see us dominate the top of the table next season I feel.

Not necessarily, but it would give us a significant option for an attack minded central midfield that does not exist with just Wotton sat on the bench.

To answer the OP, I've been saying for ages that Hammond and Schneiderlin do not compliment each other. Both too defensive when the opposition are in attack meaning that the defence is put under more pressure due to us playing too deep. Rarely will a play be broken up in midfield. If Hammond is to be the holding/defensive man, then we need someone better equipped than Schneiderlin frankly who is not living up to his price tag - what was it we paid for him - £1m I think?

Surely you've got that the wrong way around!? It's Morgan who was supposed to be the ball playing playmaker with goals in him. Hammond is a holding midfielder who happens to get forward when he can AND score goals too. Easily the better player. As for Prutton - I always liked him. Why? Because he played for the shirt and gave his all - he loved Saints and disliked what was happening to the club. I actually used to like listening to his radio show too. He played at the highest level (albeit briefly) and is good enough for L1 or CCC at least. Would he be right for the team now? No, because that's not the type of player we need. Stock is and if we're serious about a challenge for the play-offs we need to get someone in of that ability into midfield.

Rather have Holmes in the side than Scheiderlin at the moment certainly. He has only good things to say on the OS too - comes across very well and he has been a good pro waiting his chance and not throwing his toys out like some do. Welcome back.